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The release last week of the World Bank’s “2008 Worldwide
Governance Indicators” made many Filipinos, again, shudder in
disgust. The report shows many developing countries have improved in
combating corruption—some even rising to the level of the best
Western countries in governance.
We, however, are now worse than Indonesia, which
last year was East Asia’s worst in controlling corruption and in
being perceived to be the most corrupt.
We are now at the bottom of the list in fighting
corruption among the 10 largest East Asian economies.
The WB assessed 212 countries. Our percentile
rank for corruption fell from 23 percent last year to 22 percent
this time. Well, we can console ourselves that some countries are
still more corrupt and less willing to control corruption than us.
The WB study’s definition of its
control-of-corruption index is “the extent to which public power
is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms
of corruption, as well as capture of the state by elites and private
interests.”
That is very much what the Communist Party of
the Philippines, the Magdalo rebels and many sensible
Philippine-watchers (some of them columnists) have been saying about
our country.
As usual, among the Asian countries, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were the best scorers overall for
good governance not just in control of corruption.
Other WB indices of good governance aside from
corruption are:
• The citizens’ voice and the accountability
of public officials.
• Political stability and freedom from
violence and terrorism.
• Effective government. Is the government
governing properly? Are the public services adequate and of good
quality? Is there an able civil service and is it independent from
political pressures? Is a system of sound policy-making at work?
• Regulatory quality. Has the government
formulated sound policies and correct and fair regulations that
allow and encourage private sector development?
• Rule of law. Is there confidence in law
enforcement agents? Do officials and citizens alike abide by rules
and laws? Are contracts and property rights respected? Are the
courts fair? Are the police law-abiding, respectful of human rights
and able to maintain peace and order and effectively curb
criminality and violence?
Aside from corruption, we also got a very poor
grade in stability. Our best scores—surprisingly—are in
“government effectiveness” and “regulatory quality.” We are
above the 50 percentile, which means more than half of the 212
countries are worse than us in these two criteria.
The Philippines and Zimbabwe are together on the
list of countries that have deteriorated.
Politics, gov’t not evil per se
This latest World Bank study and the unceasing
reports of corruption and incompetence in various government
departments—the latest are those surrounding the Sulpicio Lines
tragedies, the unabated smuggling of everything, like onions
declared as hand tools shipped in a refrigerated container—make
some people wrongly see government and politics as evil occupations.
That is a wrong outlook. It only helps feed
despair.
Politics and government work are legitimate
human activities unlike, say, smuggling, kidnapping, changing
election results and stealing. It is the abuse and selfish use of
government power that are wrong and corrupt.
Politics and government are among the ordinary
things of the world that can be sanctified (made holy). Doing
political work and government service well and with integrity,
making the work worthy of offering to God for His glory, sanctifies
the doer. It also sanctifies the people for whom the work is done
and makes society worthy of the dignity of man.
St. Josemaria Escrivá
That is the key teaching of St. Josemaria Escrivá,
whose feast was celebrated on June 26.
Ordinary work and the ordinary circumstances of
our lives are what we human beings must use to serve God and our
fellowmen. When we do our work well, honestly (without corruption)
and competently to the best of our abilities, we give glory to God
and benefit our fellowmen.
The pervasiveness of government corruption in
this country is nothing less than mysterious. Most of the high
officials are Christians. But many of them who hold the highest
offices lie at every turn. They steal. They make a mockery of the
Catholic Christianity they love to identify themselves with in photo
ops. Their actions tear to shreds their oaths of office, the
Constitution and the ordinances of the land.
Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, last week held a two-day
conference in the Vatican on “Politics, a Demanding Form of
Charity.”
Zenit reports that Cardinal Martino said,
“Politics is a serious issue for Christians,” because it is
“an essential place and fundamental instrument to build a society
worthy of man.”
Some say that the mystery of Philippine
governmental corruption can be explained by one word: Satan. He does
not want Philippine society to be built on truth and justice. He
does not want our society worthy of the dignity of man as God wants
it to be. So he has filled high government offices with his
devotees.
rqb@manilatimes.net
rq_bas@yahoo.com
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